


Out of Time and Out of Place

by grumpyhanson



Category: Game Grumps
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Fluff, Light Angst, M/M, Magic, Nomadic Group, Wanderlust
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-06
Updated: 2017-08-06
Packaged: 2018-12-09 01:36:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11658891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grumpyhanson/pseuds/grumpyhanson
Summary: Bored with his peaceful town life, Dan decides he needs to do something else and venture into the world. He decides to hop from town to town, performing for money. Along the way he runs into Arin, a person part of a nomadic group who travels with the seasons, and joins them in search of new experiences.





	Out of Time and Out of Place

**Author's Note:**

> This was done for the 2017 Game Grumps Big Bang hosted on tumblr at @gamegrumps-bigbang! I had an absolute blast participating last year, and was so glad to get a chance to mod this year!!

It was a quiet day in the shop. Weekdays tended to be the slowest as most people were working and children had classes to attend. The warm sun was seeping through the windows, painting the floor in a warm glow. The air in the shop smelled warm and sweet as various pastries were being baked. Dan sighed and leaned against the front counter, elbow propped up and his head resting in his hand. A couple moments of silence passed and he pursed his lips, his fingertips tapping along the wood of the counter. After another moment he cocked his head toward the back room.  
“Are you sure there’s nothing you need my help with?” he called out.

There was a clanking sound from the back and Vernon stuck his head out, a streak of flour on his forehead where he had attempted to wipe off sweat. His hands and part of his shirt were also covered in flour, but he didn’t seem to mind. Dan was sure he didn’t look much better, even though he hadn’t done that much work today.

“Nope! We’ve got everything cooking and Jack is helping me clean up now. You can take your break if you’d like. I’m sorry there’s not much to do today,” Vernon said, frowning slightly.

Dan shrugged and turned around to face Vernon completely, leaned back against the counter.

“It’s fine. I’ll take my break, then see if anything else comes up today, I guess. I just feel bad I’m not helping,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

Vernon shook his head and smiled. “Don’t worry about it, man. Today is just slow.” He gave Dan one last look before ducking back into the kitchen, leaving Dan alone once again.

Dan took a deep breath and pushed himself off the counter. He dragged one of the comfiest chairs from the corner nook over to the front window, plopping down in it with his feet propped up on the window ledge, letting the sun rays wash over him. He hummed happily at the feeling, comfortably warm.

He had been working with Vernon and Jack in their bakery since they had bought it, helping out wherever he was needed in favor of getting a job he hated. Working in the bakery was wonderful, he got to see his friends every day, got to sample things on the job, and made a fine living doing it. Dan had been living with them for a while as well, as they had a little apartment over the bakery and Dan’s family lived out on the outskirts of town running their farm. He had been contemplating getting his own place for a bit, but had made no effort to actually search for one.

Time passed by slowly as Dan waited, watching the people walk up and down the street, quietly observing. He had spaced out while watching, and was startled back into the present when he heard someone drag up a chair next to him, copying his position. He looked over to see Jack smiling at him softly, looking much cleaner than Vernon had been.

“Sorry to startle you, I didn’t mean to,” he said, and Dan shook his head in response.

“It’s fine. I was just thinking about things,” Dan said, looking back outside, arms crossed loosely over his chest.

“What kind of things?” Jack asked curiously, and Dan could tell Jack was still looking at him, but didn’t meet his eyes.

“Do you ever get… I don’t know, restless? About being here?”

Jack furrowed his eyebrows. “What do you mean?”

Dan sighed. “Like, we’ve never really left town. At least for more than a couple days at a time, just to visit family, or to get certain ingredients, or something like that. Don’t you get antsy just staying here?”

There was a quiet moment as Jack thought it over, eyes staring off to nowhere. Dan watched him curiously.

“I’ve never really thought about it, I guess. It would be nice to visit some other towns like I did when I was younger, but I’m happy here. I’ve got you and Vernon, and I love running the shop,” Jack said, looking to Dan. He paused for a moment and looked Dan over carefully. “Is this your way of telling me you want to leave?”

Dan let out a small noise in response and shrugged. “I don’t really know. I’ve been thinking about it a bit, I guess. I’d love to see what else is out there, y’know? But I don’t want to abandon you and Vernon, if I were to go through with it. Who knows where I’d even go.” 

Jack smiled at him and patted him on the shoulder. “You know that Vern and I wouldn’t keep you from pursuing what you want, if what you want is to leave for a while. We’ll always be here for you when you get back, or… if you come back. Either way. We’d support you in whatever you wanted to do. Who knows, it might even give you a chance to work on that music thing you’ve been wanting to do since we were kids,” he said, a teasing smile on his face.

Dan laughed and nudged Jack’s foot with his own. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were trying to get rid of me.”

A sudden crash from the back room made them both sit up, rolling their eyes at Vernon’s call of “I’m fine!”. Dan watched as Jack stood up to go check it out, but he paused and looked down at Dan carefully, placing a hand on his shoulder.

“I better go check on him, but whatever you decide, just let us know, okay? I promise you we’d both support you if this is what you want to do, even if it’s only for a bit,” he said, then ruffled Dan’s hair before walking away, leaving Dan to stare after him.

The next couple weeks passed quickly, and Dan hadn’t stopped thinking about what Jack had said. He had offhandedly asked people around town about what he would need if he decided to venture out, which luckily wasn’t much if he just wanted to make it to the next town over where he could restock again, hopping from town to town. He was planning to try and perform a bit for money along the way and see where that got him.

Now, Dan was standing in the living area of his, Jack’s, and Vernon’s shared apartment, staring down at the giant bag he had packed. It was filled to the brim with spare clothes, a blanket, some food, and other things to start him off. Even though he was ready, he couldn’t help but feel nervous. He tapped his foot rapidly, feeling jittery.

“You know, if you really don’t want to go, you don’t have to,” Vernon said, frowning at how antsy Dan was being. He and Jack were curled up on the sofa, Vernon nearly sitting on Jack’s lap, watching Dan pace around the room. Dan’s eyes were flicking back and forth from Vernon and Jack to the bag on the floor.

“No, I know, I want to do this though. I’m just… nervous, is all. And excited. Both of those feelings are kinda blending together,” Dan laughed, staring down at the bag. “I really should get going. It’s going to take me a couple days to get to the next town so I want to get a move on.” He paused, and looked up at them. “I’ll miss you both,” he said softly, giving them a small smile.

They both smiled back at him and Vernon got off Jack’s lap, dragging Dan into a hug. Dan laughed and pulled Vernon in tightly, eyeing Jack who was just watching them amusedly. Dan raised his eyebrow and smirked at him, making Jack shake his head but get up anyway, joining in the hug.

“We’ll miss you too, buddy,” Jack said.

Vernon pulled away to look up at Dan. “We’ll be here when, or if, you decide you want to come back, okay?”

Dan nodded and slowly let go of the hug, reaching down to toss the bag over his shoulder.

“I guess this is goodbye for now then,” he said sadly. He walked over to the door and gave them one last look and a wave, before disappearing out the door.

-

It was a good thing Dan liked nature, because even after a slip in some mud, which left his whole left side covered in dirt, and nearly running into low tree branches on multiple occasions, he still wasn’t angry about the situation. Sure, he was mildly uncomfortable and slightly cold from the mud and his knees burned from tripping, but he was still in good spirits. Even having to sleep in a tree because he thought it would be safest didn’t bother him too much.

When Dan finally arrived to the first town, he couldn’t help but marvel at how small it was in comparison to his own. There were only a couple shops and some houses, along with some farms he had passed by on the way in. Even though it was quite small, it had a cute charm to it that made Dan smile. The roads were dirt compared to the cobblestone of home, and there were much more flowers and plants littering the sides of the street, making everything seem livelier.

With his whole body aching and still covered in dirt and small scratches, Dan wandered through the streets and stumbled upon a small cabin that was renting out rooms. He had brought a small amount of money with him to start out with, enough to hopefully last a couple stays in cabins until he found a town suited for him to perform in.

The receptionist gave him a weird look, but handed him a key anyway. Dan gave a small “thank you” in response and trudged up the stairs, collapsing on the bed. The room was small, and the bed wasn’t the softest, but anything would be better than sleeping in a tree again. He stayed lying on the bed for a moment before sitting up again, not wanting to get the sheets to dirty with the dirt and leaves he was still covered in. He stood up and peeked into the small bathroom connected to the room, sighing happily once he found that it had a tub.

After a good soak in the tub and what felt like hours of him scrubbing the dirt off, Dan finally collapsed into bed, falling almost immediately into a deep sleep.

The next morning after another quick shower and a reassessment of his supplies, Dan was off again. Now that he was used to walking through the forest he was more careful of where he was walking, and was able to actually enjoy the scenery for once. He was able to admire the soft greens of the forest and the chirping of birds flying from tree to tree, and occasionally a rabbit or squirrel he’d see running around. Even though it was the beginning of summer and the weather was starting to warm up, the trees provided shade and prevented Dan from overheating and provided shelter from the harsh rays of sun.

Dan was following vague instructions from the receptionist at the inn he stayed at on how to get to the next town, so he was wandering a bit blindly through the woods, but appreciated the tranquility they provided.

A couple hours later, Dan’s legs started to ache and he was panting slightly. He paused for a moment, leaning against a tree so he could catch his breath. Just as he was going to sit down, he heard the faint sound of rushing water in the distance, and he immediately stood back up, walking toward the sound.

After walking through a thick set of trees he came upon a small river, flowing quietly. Dan rushed toward the bank, setting his pack down and kneeling, cupping some water and drinking from his hands. He took a couple deep drinks and refilled his water flask. He sat back, taking a couple deep breaths and a much needed rest for his legs, listening to the rush of the river.

A couple of minutes later Dan heard something that sounded almost like squeaking, and perked his head up to where the noise was coming from. Up the river a bit was a person, kneeling almost in the water with a couple of animals running around them, making small noises that Dan assumed were happy sounds.

The person seemed to be playing with the animals, laughing softly when one of them did something especially goofy. Dan stood up from where he was sitting and quietly walked over towards the person. Once he got close enough he saw that the person had long brown hair that was tied up, and a soft face with pink tinted cheeks, smiling and laughing at the animals. He was on the broader side, and gave off a kind and happy aura that made Dan smile as well.

Once the animals saw Dan approaching, they immediately dove into the water and swam away, making the person look up and meet Dan’s eyes. Dan smiled down at him nervously.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare them away,” he said, not knowing whether to not he pissed this person off.

The person shook his head and smiled up at Dan. “No worries, they get spooked easily,” he said, then paused, taking note of Dan’s fidgety stance. “You can sit, if you’d like.”

Dan graciously took the offer and sat down, legs crossed and bag in his lap. “What are those creatures, anyway? I think I’ve seen them once when I was a kid.” 

“They’re otters! They’re very friendly if you’re patient with them. I’ve known that group for a couple years now, so they’re very friendly with me,” the man said, looking out to where the otters had regathered and were playing with one another.

Dan nodded and watched them as well. “They’re very cute.”

The two of them fell into silence for a bit until the man spoke up again.

“What’s your name?” he asked.

Dan looked to him and found the man was already looking at him, and Dan felt himself flush a bit under the man’s gaze. “Dan. What’s yours?”

“Arin,” he said, giving Dan a small smile. “It’s nice to meet you, Dan. What are you doing out here in the forest? I thought most people liked to stick to their towns, not be wandering in the middle of nowhere.” He laughed, and Dan couldn’t help but admire how cute it was.

“I, uh, I was getting bored in my own town so I’m hopping from town to town, hopefully performing a bit here and there,” he said, quietly looking down at his lap. He paused a moment before registering the last bit of what Arin said, looking up at him again. “What do you mean ‘most people’? Do you not live in a town?”

Arin seemed to perk up at that. “Oh! I don’t quite live in one place. My group and I move throughout the year with the seasons for our animals and crops. We just got here to our summer rotation a couple days ago, actually.”

Dan was taken aback by that, he had never heard of something like that before. The concept seemed a bit foreign to him. “Oh wow, that’s interesting! How long have you been doing that?” he asked curiously.

Arin shrugged and leaned back on his palms, feet sticking out in front of him into the edge of the water. “Our group has been doing it for a long time. I don’t know quite how long. It’s just what we do.”

“Do you like it? Moving from place to place to place so much?”

Arin looked confused at that question. “I mean, yeah? I have many friends and have grown up with them, and I don’t know any different. You must not like town life then, yeah? That’s why you’ve left?” he asked.

Dan blinked a couple times, processing that. “Yeah… I just got a bit restless sitting in one place for so long, I guess. Your group is like the exact opposite of that,” he laughed. How weird that he’d meet someone living almost the exact opposite life he had been.

“I guess it is,” Arin hummed thoughtfully, the two of them falling into silence again. After a moment Arin spoke up again. “You know, I could take you with me back there to see what it’s like, if you want. Maybe you could even join us. I don’t see why not. Though I don’t know how Brian will react to me bringing someone in…” he trailed off the last part, like it was more of him speaking to himself than to Dan.

“I mean, if it’s going to cause trouble then it’s alright. I don’t want to cause an issue. It would be interesting, though,” Dan said carefully, but Arin shook his head.

“No, it’s alright. I’ll talk to him if he gives you or me a hard time. You can probably spend a couple days with us if you’d like,” Arin suggested, and Dan lit up.

“I would love to.”

Arin grinned back at him and stood up, holding out a hand for Dan to take. Dan graciously took it and stood up as well, trying to ignore how soft and strong Arin’s hands were.

“It’s not too far from here, don’t worry,” Arin said, smiling at Dan before taking off further up the river, Dan following right behind him.

The trek took them about half an hour before they came upon the camp. It was tucked along the side of a mountain, near the shore of the river. The homes seemed to be made mostly of wood, all relatively close together and similar in size with a large empty space in the middle of them all, with what looked like a fire pit in the center. Arin led them through the rows of houses and waved to people as they walked by, but everyone seemed to be more focused on Dan, their eyes watching him cautiously.

Dan went to ask Arin what they were looking at him for, but Arin beat him to it.

“We haven’t had someone new enter in a while, so they’re probably a bit skeptical. I don’t blame them. The last time we introduced someone to the group, it… didn’t go too well, to say the least. They’ll warm up to you in no time though, as long as you have no bad intentions,” Arin said, looking back to Dan for a moment, but he didn’t stop walking.

“Oh, uh, no. I don’t have any bad intentions. I don’t want to cause any trouble,” Dan said. He grew a bit more nervous at Arin’s words though, scared that no one would like him and he’d cause nothing but issues.

Arin smiled. “Then you have nothing to worry about.”

“You seem very trusting of me in comparison to everyone else. You’re not worried I’ll mess something up like the last person?” Dan asked.

Arin stopped walking suddenly and turned around to face Dan, looking at him with an intensity that made Dan freeze in place. “Well, in the back of my head, I am a bit. But, I don’t want to let my previous experiences cloud my judgement from meeting new people. I also don’t think people are inherently bad like he was, and like to believe that everyone has good in them. You seem genuinely nice and curious and I want to give you a chance, even if you only spend a day or so with us. Does that make sense?” he asked, watching Dan carefully.

Dan nodded, stunned silent for a moment, not expecting the answer to have that much depth to it.

“Good!” Arin clapped, then grabbed Dan’s wrist. “Come on, we have to go see Brian.”

Arin led them into a slightly larger house than the others, still holding on to Dan’s wrist. The inside of the house was sparsely decorated, but had all of the essentials. There was a large table in the middle with a couple chairs scattered around it, with two people sitting at it across from each other, talking quietly. The two of them looked up, hearing Arin and Dan enter. The first to stand up was a man a bit shorter than Dan, ice blue eyes chilling Dan to the core. He stood up immediately when he noticed Dan, almost angry in his movements. He glared at Dan, then at Arin.

“Arin, what is this?” he asked lowly, with a hint of irritation that made Dan flinch.

Arin looked at Dan then back at the man. “I think he’d rather be called a who than a what,” he said, laughing.

“Arin.” The stern tone shut Arin up immediately, and Dan backed up a step, closer to Arin.

“I found him when I was out visiting the otters. He’s hopping from town to town because he’s tired of living in one place and since that’s kind of what we do, I thought he could come see what it’s like,” Arin said quietly, obviously not as confident in his choice as he had been before.

“If - if it’s too much trouble I can leave. I don’t want to cause issues. You can forget this ever happened,” Dan butted in.

“No, just,” the man took a deep breath and dragged his hands down his face. He looked back to Arin. “You’re the one that has to keep an eye on him. He’s to sleep in your cabin as well,” he looked to Dan. “If even one problem occurs, you’re out at the next sunrise, deal?”

Dan nodded, eyes wide.

“I’m Brian, and this is Suzy,” he continued, pointing to the woman next to him, her dark black hair pulled up like Arin’s was. She looked more amused with the situation than Brian did, and offered Dan a small wave. Dan waved back. “If anything happens, come talk to one of us immediately.”

Arin broke into a grin and grabbed Dan’s hand, dragging him back outside. He turned to Dan, still smiling happily.

“See? I told you it would be fine!” he said, and Dan raised an eyebrow.

“That was fine? That didn’t seem very fine to me.”

Arin laughed and shook his head, “Yeah, that was fine. He acts really tense and serious, but even he will warm up to you eventually. He just has to be stern since he’s the head of our group. He has to keep everything in order, y’know?”

Dan sighed lightly. “Yeah, I get it. Who was Suzy, then?”

“Oh! She’s his assistant, I guess? I don’t really know how to describe it. She just helps him out with responsibilities and things. Brian acted like an older brother to her and I as we were growing up. She just kinda followed after him.” He paused and looked thoughtful for a moment. “Come on, I’ll show you where I live then we can wander around a bit. I want to introduce you to a couple of people as well before dinner.”

Dan followed Arin through the rows of houses again until they came to one tucked along the outskirts of the group, lots of plants and flowers growing around the outside. It was on the smaller side due to Arin living alone, but Arin didn’t seem to mind.

“Are you sure you don’t mind me staying with you? I could find somewhere else to sleep,” Dan said. He didn’t want to inconvenience Arin if it was going to be a problem, even though he really didn’t want to have to sleep outside again.

Arin paused, hand on the doorknob, and looked back to Dan amusedly. “If you think I’m going to let you sleep outside, you’re ridiculous. I don’t mind. It’ll be nice to have a bit more company.”

He then pushed the door open and Dan gaped. There were potted plants and flowers everywhere, sitting in the corner and some even hanging from the ceiling, and Dan felt like he had walked into a fairy tale. He walked over to one of the plants in the corner and crouched down, running over the leaves with the tips of his fingers. Some of the plants were ones he had never seen before, and others he recognized from home. He glanced up to Arin who was standing back a couple feet, smiling sheepishly.

“You like plants, huh?” Dan asked, a teasing smile on his face.

Arin laughed. “You could say that, yeah.” He leaned against the wall and watched as Dan walked around, looking at all of the plants. “You can just put your bag anywhere if you want to set it down.”

Dan slid the bag off his shoulder and placed on top of the small table in the center of the room. “What now?”

“I can show you the rest of my place later. We’ll be eating dinner soon and I have some people I want you to meet,” Arin said and motioned Dan to follow him again.

People still looked at Dan cautiously and a few with annoyance, which made Dan frown and scoot closer to Arin. Arin sighed and took Dan’s hand. Dan’s heart jumped at the contact and his face flushed a bit, but he squeezed Arin’s hand gratefully.

“I’m sorry. They should warm up to you in a few days,” Arin whispered.

“It’s alright. I get it. It’s just a bit off-putting. I’m not used to being stared at so much,” Dan whispered back.

Arin frowned slightly and dropped the conversation, leading Dan a bit faster. They walked to the opposite end of the camp where they camp upon a giant corral that held a couple of horses and cattle, along with a small building attached to it for what looked like chickens. Arin dropped Dan’s hand and hopped over the fence, and Dan cursed himself for mourning the loss of contact. Dan followed Arin over the fence and walked over to Arin where he was banging against the door of the chicken coop.

“Hey, Holly! I have someone I want you to meet!” Arin stepped back and looked to Dan. “You’ll love her.”

Someone who Dan assumed was Holly propped the door open, sweat dripping down her face and feathers everywhere. She opened her mouth to respond to Arin but paused when she looked at Dan, then looked back to Arin. Dan shifted awkwardly.

“Please tell me you’ve told Brian,” she said, looking unimpressed.

Arin rolled his eyes. “Yes, I’ve told Brian. Now, Dan, this is Holly. Holly, Dan.”

Dan gave her a small wave, “Hello. It’s nice to meet you.”

Holly smiled at him. “It’s nice to meet you too, Dan. I’d shake your hand, but,” she held up her hands that were covered in dirt and other gross things. “What are you doing joining us?”

“I ran into Arin a ways from here while I was town hopping due to being restless staying in my town for so long, and Arin offered me to join for a couple days, just to check things out. It’s been… interesting so far, to say the least,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. Arin leaned against the building, watching the two of them.

“Well, I’m happy to have you here. Is he staying with you, Arin?” she asked, and Arin sat up, startled out of his day dreaming.

“Yeah, Brian wants me to keep an eye on him so he’s staying with me. It’s getting late now, but I was thinking maybe you could introduce him to Barry and Ross tomorrow? Maybe he could help out you guys with something?” Arin asked, wrapping an arm around Dan’s shoulder.

Holly smiled. “Actually, they’re in the barn so I can go get them now, if you’d like?”

Arin grinned as well. “That would be great, actually!”

Holly nodded and took off toward the slightly larger building a bit away, and Dan moved to lean against the wall next to Arin.

“She seems nice,” Dan said quietly.

Arin hummed in agreement. “Holly’s great. We’ve known each other for a long while. Same with Ross and Barry. You’ll like them too. Maybe Ross a little less so at first as his sense of humor takes some getting used to, but he’s great.” He smiled, and the affection for his friends seeped into his tone and reminded Dan of Jack and Vernon. It had only been a few days but Dan was wondering how they were doing without him.

A couple of minutes later Holly came back with two men, one with a beard and one with a grin so big it looked like it hurt.

“Dan, this is Barry,” she pointed to the man with the beard, and he offered a small wave. “And this is Ross,” she pointed to the other one and he came up to Dan and slapped him on the shoulder.

“Nice to meet you, man! Holly said you’re staying with us a few days?”

Dan laughed lightly, rubbing the spot where Ross had slapped him. “Uh, yeah. Arin’s just showing me around and stuff. It’s nice so far.”

“Well, we’re glad to have you, dude,” Barry said. “If you ever need anything, just let us know.”

Dan nodded appreciatively. “Thanks.”

“I was thinking he could help you guys out tomorrow if you need it?” Arin suggested and Barry nodded.

“That would be great, actually. Thanks, Dan,” he smiled, and Dan smiled back.

“Alright, it’s getting late. Arin and Dan, do you want to walk to the bonfire with us?” Holly asked, and Arin paused for a moment before nodding.

“What bonfire?” Dan asked, sticking next to Arin as the five of them walked together.

“We have a bonfire once a week. It’s been a tradition for ages. It’s really fun, actually,” Arin said, and his smile made something in Dan’s chest tighten.

After the five of them had sat down on the logs surrounding the giant fire pit Dan had seen earlier that was now filled with wood and burning brightly, they were handing bowls of food and dug into them eagerly. Dan hummed at the delicious taste and tried to ignore the stares he was still getting. Dan noticed that Brian was sitting near them with a big drum ahead of him, eating and talking to Suzy. After everyone had finished their meal and the bowls were taken from them, Dan watched intently as Brian began to hit a rhythm on the drum, and people began joining in singing to it.

The songs held deeper meanings that Dan himself didn’t understand, but he felt the power behind them. He found himself staring in awe over the amount of feeling and emotion that everyone put into it, and his head snapped to Arin when he heard the man singing, voice deep but powerful. Arin smiled at him softly but kept on singing. As the songs changed they became more upbeat and people started to stand up and dance, and Dan watched them, a small smile on his face.

The night passed faster than Dan had expected, and before he knew it he and Arin were heading back to Arin’s cabin, Arin dancing a bit as he walked, humming the lyrics to one of the songs.

“What are they about?” Dan asked, hoping that it wasn’t too invasive of a question.

Arin looked back to Dan for a moment before continuing on. “Anything and everything. Struggles, perseverance, loss, love, anything really. They’ve been passed on for generations. They mean a lot to us,” he said, tone light and reminiscing.

Later, when Arin was fast asleep on his bed, Dan was still awake, sitting on a chair and peering out Arin’s front window and glancing at the faint lights that were still left on, his hand absentmindedly playing with the petals of a flower. He hummed the tune of one of the bonfire songs quietly.

A light flicked on behind him and he turned to see Arin leaning against the small counters, the lamp beside him glowing brightly in the dark of the room.

“You pick up on music pretty fast. You sing?” Arin asked softly, his voice a bit scratchy from sleep.

Dan blushed lightly. “Uh, occasionally, yeah. Did I wake you?”

Arin shook his head and pulled up a seat next to Dan. He stared at the plant Dan was absently messing with. Dan noticed Arin’s staring and pulled his hand away, blushing lightly.

“Sorry-,” he started, but Arin cut him off.

“Don’t worry about it. Do you want to see something?” Arin asked, a hint of mischievousness in his eyes.

Dan nodded and watched as Arin picked his hand up and held onto the plant, then watched in awe as the plant started to grow, sprouting more flowers on it than there were before. Dan’s mouth had dropped open and he stared at the plant for a moment before staring at Arin, who was smiling at him sheepishly.

“...How?” Dan asked, dumbstruck.

Arin laughed and shrugged. “No one knows how. It’s just a thing that happens to some of us. No one really makes a big deal out of them or anything. Some of us go through our whole lives not knowing we have something like this. I suspect Holly may have one related to animals, but we may never know.”

“That’s so cool,” Dan said, still in awe. He kept staring at the small, pink flowers, feeling the new petals with his fingertips. Arin watched him, smiling softly. He then stood up and cracked his back.

“Alright, I better get back to sleep. Are you fine on the mat Brian let you borrow?” Arin asked, looking slightly troubled.

Dan nodded and looked to the mat that was sprawled out on the floor. “Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks, Arin,” he said.

Arin nodded and headed off to bed. “Goodnight, Dan.”

“Night, Arin.”

Days blurred into weeks as Dan busied himself with helping out Holly, Ross, or Barry, growing closer to them, messing around with Arin when he had nothing else to help with, the two of them nearly inseparable unless Dan was working. Dan still got the stern eye from Brian or another member of the community occasionally, but the wariness was weaning off, and Dan felt ten times better. He felt like he was starting to belong.

One day, the morning after another one of the bonfires, Dan was busy feeding the chickens early in the morning, glad to take the duty off Holly’s hands. He was singing one of the bonfire songs to himself and to the chickens as he had been to enough to catch some of the lyrics. Once he was done feeding them he looked up, and his singing immediately stopped once he saw Brian staring at him from the other side of the fence. They stared at each other for a moment before, for the first time since they had met, Brian smile at him, nodding before walking away, leaving Dan to stare at him, a happy glow filling his chest.

-

As the weather grew colder, things began to change. The air was crisp with the fall chill, the leaves of the trees began to turn color and fall to the ground, and Dan felt great. The past few month he had wormed himself into the group and had become close to not only Arin, but Barry, Ross, Holly, and even Suzy and Brian to an extent. Brian and the rest of the community had grown kinder towards Dan, and often greeted him throughout the day.

Now, as the warm summer weather is morphing into autumn, everyone was growing restless with the upcoming move. Dan was sitting on a log, eating some lunch alone, watching as people were beginning to pack up their belongings. He didn’t know where to go from here, if he was going to be joining them on their journey to the next place, or if he was going to be let go to be on his own, or what. Arin had been gone when Dan had woken up that morning, and had been absent all day. Dan tried to busy himself with asking Holly or Barry if there was anything he could do to help, but they brushed him off with a smile, telling him that they had it under control.

Just as Dan was finishing up his lunch, two hands clapped over his eyes from behind, starling Dan and almost making him drop his food.

“Guess who?” said the attacker, and Dan rolled his eyes at the teasing tone in Arin’s voice.

“I know it’s you, Arin,” Dan said, and the hands lifted from his face. Arin jumped over the log and sat down beside Dan, grinning broadly.

“Damn, thought I could trick you,” he joked, making Dan laugh, almost choking on his food. “Once you’re done eating Brian wants to talk to you, by the way.”

Dan swallowed the last bite of food and looked at Arin carefully before nodding. “Alright.” He got up and gave his bowl to the person washing all of the bowls, giving them a small smile and a ‘thank you’ before returning to Arin. “Lead the way then, your majesty,” Dan teased, bowing slightly.

Arin laughed and performed a half-attempted curtsey, before heading towards Brian’s with Dan hot on his heels.

They quickly reached Brian’s home, and Arin shouldered the door open, Dan following after him.

“Ah, yes! Hello, Dan,” Brian said, greeting Dan enthusiastically with a slap to his shoulder. He nodded to Arin who nodded back then leaned against the wall, watching the two of them from a distance.

“Hi, Brian. Arin said you wanted to wanted to see me?” Dan asked, sitting down at the table in the middle of the room, Brian taking the seat across from him.

“I’ve been talking to Arin a lot over the past few weeks, and talked to Suzy and have gotten input from other members of our community about your presence in this group,” Brian said, and Dan’s heart dropped a bit. Was he being kicked out? “I’ve seen how much of a help you’ve been not only to Holly, but our community as a whole. You’ve been nothing but kind and have helped out so much, and I would like to extend an invitation to you to have you join us on our way towards the autumn residence.”

A moment passed between them as Dan processed what was being proposed to him. Brian was looking at him intently, and Dan could feel Arin’s gaze burning into the back of his head. After another moment a large smile crept onto Dan’s face and he nodded.

“I would be honored to join you. I hope I can continue to help out and make a good impression on the group,” Dan said, reaching out to shake Brian’s hand, but Brian just laughed and stood up, walking around the table to drag Dan into a hug.

“Drop the formalities, Dan. We’re friends now, aren’t we?” Brian said.

Dan laughed as well and returned the hug, glancing to Arin over Brian’s shoulder. Arin was smiling softly and them and gave Dan a thumbs up.

“I guess we are, yeah.” The two of them pulled away from the hug and Dan looked from Arin back to Brian. “Will I still be staying with Arin still?”

Brian thought for a moment before frowning slightly. “If that’s not too much of a trouble, then yes. It just works better that way.”

Dan nodded. “That’s perfectly fine. Arin and I get along great, and there hasn’t been a problem so far.”

“Yeah, we get along just swimmingly. I always miss the warmth of your body when you get up before me though,” Arin teased, pouting playfully.

Brian snorted and Dan glared at Arin. “That absolutely doesn’t happen, thank you very much.”

“I don’t care what the two of you do in your spare time, just don’t tell me the details,” Brian said, fake gagging. “Now get out, you crazy kids. I’ve got work to do.”

Arin and Dan both laughed and walked out the door.

“I’m not that much younger than you, Brian!” Arin called out right before they closed the door behind them, leaving Brian to laugh and shake his head in response.

Over the next few days things were hectic as everyone scrambled to pack up the rest of their belongings. Dan spent his time helping Arin pack up his things and plant most of his plants in appropriate habitats with Arin instructing him on the best way to replant certain plants. Dan also helped Brian and Suzy with anything they needed, which was mostly communication work to other members of the community. The days were filled with things to do and passed by quickly.

Before he knew it, the day came upon them, and Arin was shaking Dan awake roughly.

“Get up, asshole. We should be leaving relatively soon,” Arin said, and Dan groaned, cuddling back into his pillow. Arin laughed and nudged Dan with his foot. “Come on, sleepyhead. We gotta get going.”

Dan frowned and sat up, grumbling to himself. “Fine, fine. I’m up.”

The two worked around each other quietly as they worked to pack the rest of their things, rolling up bedding and grabbing their bags before heading out the door. Arin had paused at the doorway and was looking into his house sadly. Dan stopped once he noticed Arin had stopped as well, watching him carefully. A small frown was on his face and Dan mirrored it.

“You okay?” Dan asked, placing a hand on Arin’s arm.

Arin nodded then turned to look at Dan. “Yeah, I’m fine. The summer residence has always been my favorite, so I’m always a bit sad to leave. But I look forward to returning next year.”

Dan didn’t really know how to respond so he nodded, giving Arin a small smile.

The rest of the people were gathered around the edge of the community, a couple horses and mules left to help carry the wagons. Holly and a couple other people had left a couple days before with the rest of the animals as it would take them a bit longer to get there while wrangling all of the animals. The journey would only last them a couple days, but they hoped to make it a bit quicker than that.

Now they were on their way, walking through the forest, following the vaguely visible path that wound through the trees. Arin and Dan stuck to the back, talking to each other idly as they walked, just out of ear distance from the others.

Arin opened his mouth to say something then paused, seeing Brian pause and fall back so he was walking next to them.

“I hope you don’t mind me interrupting your conversation. Could I talk to Dan for a few minutes?” he asked. Arin paused for a moment before nodding.

“Yeah, I’ll go find Ross or Barry, or something,” Arin said. He walked a bit faster, blending into the crowd of people in search of someone else to talk to.

A calm silence fell between Dan and Brian as they watched after Arin, watching him weave through people.

“He likes you a lot. You know that, right?” Brian asked, looking over at Dan.

Dan smiled and shrugged. “I mean, I would hope so. We’ve essentially been living together for that past couple months.”

Brian just shook his head and dropped the subject for now, changing the topic.

“I figured that since you’re joining us I should give you a bit more information on the history of our community,” Brian said, voice low. Dan nodded but didn’t respond, listening intently. “We have been around for years. We prefer to keep to ourselves most of the time, but occasionally we will send people to villages to purchase some things. We can mostly provide for ourselves, but sometimes we’ll lose an animal to wolves or other predators and need to purchase another one, things like that.

“Other than that we don’t see much of other people. I’m sure Arin told you about what happened last time someone joined us, yes?” Brian asked, raising an eyebrow at Dan.

Dan shook his head. “He told me that something bad happened, just not what. I didn’t want to overstep my boundaries by asking him what happened.”

“Ah, okay,” Brian hummed in understanding. “It’s probably for the best then. It was a bad time for all of us, so we don’t like to talk about it.” He paused. They took a moment to listen to the sounds of the forest, the crackling of the leaves under their feet and the soft chirping of the birds, letting it wash over them. Brian then fished a water flask out of his pocket and offered it to Dan. Dan shook his head and Brian nodded then popped off the cap and took a drink. He dropped it from his lips and tapped his fingers on the side of it. “Has Arin told you about his thing with plants?”

Dan looked up from where he was watching his feet and met Brian’s eyes. He nodded. “Yeah, he told me back around when I first got here. He told me a bit about it and how some of you have special powers like that.”

Brian laughed. “I wouldn’t call them powers, per se. It’s just a higher connection to certain things compared to other people, I guess? It’s hard to explain. We don’t have an explanation for how or why these things happen, we just know that they’ve been occurring for generations.”

“What’s yours then? Or is that insensitive to ask?” Dan asked, watching Brian intently.

Brian chuckled again and shook his head. “It’s not rude to ask, no. Mine has something to do with vibration. That’s the closest thing I’ve come to. I was talented at music from a young age, and I can slightly control the vibrations in water. I haven’t found many other things it’s effective with, though.”

Dan hummed. “That sounds cool. I’ve also loved music from a young age but I don’t think I have anything like that.” That made the both of them laugh and Brian nudged Dan with his shoulder.

“I would love to play with you sometime then. Not just during bonfires,” he said then looked towards the front of the group. “I should get back up to the front of the group now. Thanks for letting me talk with you, Dan. I’ll send Arin back.”

Dan gave him a smile and a nod. “Thanks for talking to me, Brian. I appreciate it.”

Brian smiled then went to find Arin. Arin made his way back a couple of minutes later, grinning at Dan, wiggling his eyebrows.

“So? What did he talk to you about?” Arin asked, wrapping an arm around Dan’s shoulder.

Dan laughed and shook his head. “Nothing important.”

Arin pouted at the fact that the wouldn’t get the details, but let the topic drop. They fell back into the conversation they had been having earlier, goofing off with each other to pass the time.

The couple day journey passed quickly and they soon came upon the fall residence. It was a section of land cleared of trees right up against the edge of a mountain littered with small stone houses. The layout was similar to that of the summer residence, except that Brian’s home was closer to the edge of the clearing, almost built into the mountain itself. The group had met up with Holly and the other people earlier that day and they had grouped together for the last couple miles of the journey.

Everyone started unpacking almost immediately upon their arrival and Dan and Arin stood a bit away, watching everyone. They were quiet a moment before Dan slid his bag off of his shoulder and handed it to Arin.

“Do you mind taking this with you to wherever we’re staying? I was going to go try and see if I could help people out if they need it,” he said. He took a step toward everyone then turned around again. “Meet up with you later, yeah?”

Arin looked down at the bag now in his hands then back up at Dan, who was looking at him expectantly. Dan raised an eyebrow when Arin didn’t reply. Arin shook his head to clear his head and he nodded. 

“Uh, yeah. See you later, I guess,” Arin said, and Dan grinned at him before taking off, leaving Arin to stare at him with a sad and confused look on his face.

The next few days seemed to pass quickly as everyone was still getting settled and organizing their things, and Dan was busier than ever. Everyone seemed to appreciate the help, especially Brian, who ended up sneaking Dan an extra pastry at dinner one night. Dan ate it appreciatively, laughing along to random stories being shared between everyone. 

Arin didn’t seem to appreciate the help nearly as much as everyone else. He had started to become distant and he and Dan rarely saw each other during the day. Any conversations they had were short and stilted, and when Dan went to glance at Arin from afar, Arin would already be looking at him sadly. At night Arin would either already be asleep by time Dan got back, or would be gone doing something else until late. Dan was starting to worry he had done something wrong, and didn’t know what to do about it.

“Do you think he’s mad at me?” he asked one day while helping Barry out with construction work. 

Barry shrugged. “If he is, he hasn’t said anything to me. I don’t think so, though. He tends to get moody when he has a lot on his mind, so that could be it,” he suggested, and Dan sighed. 

“He’s just been avoiding me and is always busy. I’m worried I did something to upset him,” Dan said, pouting slightly. 

“I don’t think that’s it. Talk to him. That’s the only way you’ll figure out what happened.”

Dan sighed. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

The next day, during a lull in work, Dan grabbed Arin by the arm and dragged him away from everyone else, effectively cornering him. Arin looked at Dan carefully, almost scared.

“What?” Arin asked, raising an eyebrow at Dan. Dan let Arin’s question hang in the air for a moment before speaking.

“I wanted to know why you’ve been avoiding me, and if I’ve done anything wrong,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest. 

Arin scoffed, “It’s nothing.”

Dan narrowed his eyes. “It’s obviously not nothing if you keep avoiding me every time I try to talk to you, let alone even look at you. I’m scared I did something to upset you but you won’t even look at me.”

“You didn’t do anything,” Arin said quietly, looking to ground, not wanting to meet Dan’s eyes. Dan huffed.

“Well then what’s wrong, Arin? I can’t help if you don’t tell me what’s going on,” Dan said, taking a step forward. Arin immediately took a step back, a scowl growing on his face. He looked up to meet Dan’s eyes and despite the anger in his face, he looked close to tears, and Dan suddenly felt terrible.

“I said it’s nothing,” he said bitterly, taking another step back. “I just… I just need some time to think, okay? I’m sorry.” He looked at Dan for a moment before bolting the opposite direction, into the maze of trees. 

“Wait! What do you mean by time?” Dan called out, but Arin was already gone, Dan’s words echoing through the forest. 

Time apparently meant leaving, as once Dan arrived back to his and Arin’s place, some of their stuff was gone, along with one of Arin’s bags. A crushing feeling filled Dan’s chest, and he felt like he was going to be sick. This was all his fault. Was Arin okay? Was he even coming back? He looked around frantically for a moment before bolting out of their house toward Brian’s. He shoved the door open and looked around for Brian, but only saw Suzy. She nearly jumped out of her chair when he barged in, and came over to him immediately.

“Oh my God, Suzy,” he said, eyes wide and filled with tears.

“Dan? What’s wrong?” she asked, looking him over in case of injuries. Seeing none, she looked back up to his face, noticing that he was nearly hyperventilating. “Honey, you need to sit down. You’re going to pass out if you keep doing that.” She guided him to one of their chairs and sat him down, pulling up a chair next to him. “Can you take deep breaths for me?”

After a couple minutes of deep breaths, Dan could breathe again, and he gave Suzy a bone-crushing hug.

“Will you tell me what’s wrong, now?” she asked gently, and Dan’s frown only deepened.

“Arin’s gone.”

She furrowed her eyebrows. “What do you mean?”

“I went to ask him why he had been avoiding me recently and he said that he needed time to think about things, then left. A lot of his stuff is gone from our house. I don’t know where he went. I don’t want him to get hurt. I didn’t mean for this to happen, Suzy,” he said, voice cracking slightly, on the verge of tears again.

Suzy sighed and pulled him in for a hug again, letting him burrow his face into her hair.

“He’ll be alright. I promise you. I can’t say this is the first time this has happened, as I essentially grew up with him, so I can promise you that he’ll be fine. He knows how to take care of himself. And it wasn’t your fault, okay? He just needs some time away from people. He’ll be okay, and it’s not your fault,” she said sternly, rubbing his back softly.

He took a deep, shaky breath before nodding. “Okay. I’m just worried,” he said, voice slightly hoarse.

“I know. I promise you everything will be alright.”

The next day, Dan woke up feeling a bit better, even though his heart sank a bit, not seeing Arin and being able to talk to him in the morning like he always did. He let out a small sigh and went about his routine, getting dressed and watering Arin’s plants, wanting to take care of them for when he came back. He stayed inside most of the day, moping around by himself. He flopped back onto Arin’s bed, staring at the ceiling and trying to ignore the scent of Arin on the sheets.

Dan was halfway to falling back asleep when he heard a knock at the door. He groaned quietly and dragged himself out of the bed, trudging through the house and opening the door. 

Holly stood in front of him, giving him a sad smile.

“I heard about Arin. I don’t want you to be moping around like a kicked puppy like I can already tell you are, so you and I are going to go do something,” she said, grabbing Dan’s arm and dragging him outside.

“You don’t have to-” Dan started, but Holly shook her head.

“I know I don’t have to, but I want to. Besides, it’ll be good for you,” she insisted.

“Okay, okay. What are we going to do?” Dan asked, following her as they walked through the other houses. 

“We’re going to have a picnic at this spot that I found a couple years ago. It’s super gorgeous. I think you’ll like it,” Holly said, grinning at him. That was the first time Dan noticed the small bag she was carrying, and he smiled back at her. 

It turned out that the spot she had been talking about was a bit of a hike away, tucked up into the mountains, hidden from everything. It was a small, shallow pool of water, hidden in a cave, the blues of the water and the light filtering in making the whole cave glow slightly. Dan gaped in awe at the mouth of the cave, Holly grinning proudly.

“This is so gorgeous, Holly, wow,” he said, walking over to the pool of water, crouching down and touching the surface with his fingers. He looked back up to her. “How did you find this place?”

Holly sat down next to him, sitting cross-legged, looking down into the water. “One day I saw a deer come up this way, so I went to follow it and this place was just here. It’s really relaxing to just come here and sit for a while.”

They were quiet for a bit before Dan moved to copy Holly’s position, facing her with his hands in his lap. 

“Have you brought Ross or Barry here yet?” Dan asked, smiling when Holly blushed a bit. 

She gave a soft laugh and shook her head. “Not yet… I don’t know why.”

“Well, I think they would like it. It obviously means a lot to you, so of course they would love it as well,” he said, patting her on the shoulder.

“Thanks, Dan,” she said, smiling happy, a faint blush still present on her face.

The two of them spent their time eating the food Holly had brought and talking about random things, just enjoying each other’s company. As the sun started to set and the light in the cave grew dimmer, they started to pack up their stuff and headed back to the community. Dan thanked Holly for the wonderful time and immediately crashed into Arin’s bed to sleep, ignoring Arin’s scent and falling asleep faster than he had in a long time.

As the days since Arin’s leave turned into weeks, Dan started to worry a bit more. The light breeze of fall was morphing into the sharp chill of winter, and Dan knew that they were soon due to travel to the next spot before the snow fell. Despite being dragged out to do things by Brian, Holly, Suzy, Barry, and Ross, Dan still felt his worry mounting. He could tell that the others were getting slightly worried as well, but they all tried to stay calm. When the day for travel finally came upon them, Dan paced around nervously as everyone else was finishing packing up. Brian came up to him and placed a hand on Dan’s shoulder, turning him so they could look each other in the eye.

“He’ll be okay, he knows where to find us. He’ll come back soon.”

Dan nodded and gave Brian a weak smile, but even Dan knew his heart wasn’t in it.

“Come on, we should get going,” Brian said softly, leading Dan toward everyone else. Dan sighed and followed Brian wordlessly, trying to push the ever-mounting worry to the back of his mind.

He just hoped Brian was right.

-

The trek to next residence was more rigorous and Dan found himself through a thin layer of snow. He had borrowed a thicker coat from Brian so he was bundled up warm, but they were making the journey a bit slower than last time. Brian had told him they were making their way south towards the ocean shore for the winter as it was the most suitable weather to live through the winter, despite the slightly longer journey to get to it. Dan didn’t know any better so he trusted Brian’s judgement, preferring to be in warmer weather than freezing to death back in the mountains where they were. 

Dan had fallen back toward the end of the group, quietly observing the wildlife as they walked along. The forest was filled with various animal noises and the quiet chirping of the birds made him smile softly. 

“Hey,” a soft, deep voice said from behind Dan, and he turned around so fast that he tripped and fell on his back, chest seizing as all of the air rushed out of him. “Oh my God! Are you okay?” Arin said, rushing over to Dan’s side.

Dan nodded and took a second to catch his breath before standing up and glaring at Arin.

“Don’t you ‘hey’ me. I’ve been so fucking worried about you. You left with no word and scared us all. I thought you hated me,” Dan said, eyes growing more sad than angry.

“No, no, no, no, I don’t hate you. Not at all,” Arin said, holding Dan’s face, hands cupping both of Dan’s cheeks. He rubbed his thumb across the skin of Dan’s cheek and Dan blushed, but pushed down the warmth growing in his chest to stare at Arin sadly.

“Then why did you leave? I don’t think I did anything wr-”

Arin clapped a hand over Dan’s mouth. “I already said you didn’t do anything wrong. It’s… a lot to explain. We can talk more when we get where we’re going, okay?” 

Dan just nodded, still looking sad, and Arin frowned as well.

“I’m sorry. I probably should have gone about things a better way.”

Dan sighed and pulled Arin in for a hug, his face pressed up against Arin’s neck, arms around Arin’s waist. “It hurt a bit and you scared us half to death, but I forgive you.”

Arin returned the hug, cheek pressed to the top of Dan’s head. They stayed like that for a moment before Arin pulled away, glancing towards where everyone else had gone, then back to Dan. He looked a bit happier than he had a few minutes ago, and Arin smiled at him, earning a smile back. 

“We better go catch up to everyone. They’re a bit farther ahead now but we can catch them no problem,” he said. Dan nodded and followed after Arin, walking so close that their arms brushed up against each other’s, but neither of them moved to pull away.

The rest of the trip goes smoothly, and they reach their destination right before nightfall. As soon as they do and Brian began to do a headcount, his eyes met Arin’s and his eyebrows shot up in surprise. He finished his headcount quickly then Dan watched as they walked over to them and dragged Arin away to most likely scold him. Dan waited patiently as they talked and a few minutes later Arin returned to Dan, smiling sheepishly. 

“He’s kind of mad, but wanted to talk to me more tomorrow as it’s late,” he said, then paused for a moment and looked at everyone, unpacking quickly before nightfall. “Follow me,” he said before walking the opposite way from the group. Dan fumbled for a second, head snapping from Arin towards the group, then back again, before jogging after Arin.

“What about everyone else? Don’t they need help?” Dan asked.

“They’ll be alright for a bit. I wanted to talk to you, if that was alright?”

Dan nodded. The evening was quiet except for the faint breeze rustling the leaves of the trees. The sun had just begun to sink below the horizon, basking the forest in a warm, orange glow. Arin led Dan through a thick section of trees until they broke out from it, coming to a giant cliff. The cliff overlooked widespread plains, with the setting sun turning the sky into various oranges and pinks. Dan stared out in awe as Arin moved to sit at the edge of the cliff, his legs dangling off. Dan stared for another moment then moved to copy Arin’s position, fingers brushing the sharp edge of the cliff.

“I’m sorry again, for leaving. It was a terrible thing to do, and I’m sorry for worrying everyone,” Arin said, looking down at his lap sadly.

Dan looked over to him and sighed. “I already said I forgive you, Arin,” he said, voice slightly deadpan.

Arin looked up and Dan carefully, then back out towards the plains. “I was jealous, I guess.”

“Jealous? Why?” Dan looked at Arin curiously.

Arin shrugged. “That you were hanging out more with people who weren’t me? Which logistically I knew was ridiculous. You’re allowed to have friends who aren’t me. But yet I still felt that way. And it sucked, y’know?” He laughed sadly, and Dan reached over to place a hand on Arin’s knee, rubbing it in what he hoped was a comforting manner. Arin looked down at Dan’s hand then up at his face, giving him a sad smile.

“I didn’t mean to spend less time with you. I just wanted to help out, be part of the group. I’m sorry if I made you feel left out,” Dan said, and Arin shook his head.

“That’s not the point. I shouldn’t have been jealous. You’re your own person and so am I. I was being unreasonable. I knew that. So I wanted to leave to do a bit of introspection. Figure some shit out.”

Arin went silent for a moment and Dan watched him cautiously.

“And?”

Arin sighed and kept looking forward, not wanting to look Dan in the eyes. “I came to the conclusion that I like you, Dan. Like, more than friends do. I don’t know when it started or what but you’re just great and fun to be around and you just mean a lot to me, man.”

It was quiet for a moment and Arin kept looking forward, heart growing heavier in his chest with every passing moment. Dan’s hand that was on Arin’s knee was still there, not moving for a moment before it creeped toward Arin’s own hand, intertwining their fingers together. A warm feeling bloomed in Arin’s chest as he looked down at their joined hands, then back up at Dan. Arin nearly gasped when he met Dan’s eyes, the look of pure adoration and happiness flooring him.

“Can I kiss you?” Dan asked softly, and Arin could only nod in response.

Dan’s free hand creeped up toward Arin’s face, hand coming up to cup Arin’s cheek, fingertips brushing the small hairs at the back of Arin’s neck. He scooted closer to Arin, bringing Arin’s head down so they were level, their lips brushing against each other’s faintly. Dan let out a small gasp at the sensation then leaned forward, pressing their lips together softly. Arin’s hands went out to grab at Dan’s hips, tugging him closer until Dan was nearly in his lap. Dan’s arms moved to wrap around Arin’s shoulders, holding him close. They continued to press faint, chaste kisses to each other’s lips, both smiling so hard that they could barely kiss a moment before being forced apart. 

After a couple moments they slowed to a stop on the kissing, Dan still sat in Arin’s lap, arms around Arin’s shoulders. Dan pressed his face into Arin’s neck, relishing in the feeling of being so close to him. One of Arin’s arms was wrapped around Dan’s waist, his free hand rubbing up and down Dan’s back softly.

“We should be heading back soon,” Arin said softly, not wanting to ruin the moment, but the chill of winter was creeping in and both Dan and Arin were starting to shiver. 

Dan sighed and sat back from his spot on top of Arin, sliding off him and sitting on the ground next to him. “You’re probably right. It’s getting late. They’re probably wondering where we are.”

Arin nodded and stood up, grabbing Dan’s hand to help him up. They kept their hands linked together as they walked back, pressing close together to keep as warm as possible. Even with the coat Brian had let Dan borrow, he was still chilly, but the warmth of Arin’s hand kept him warm enough.

After a quick dinner with everyone else and a couple minutes of brief unpacking, Arin and Dan were crashed in bed together, listening to the quiet noise of the leaves rustling outside. Arin was on his back with Dan curled up to his side, head against Arin’s chest and listening to his heartbeat. Arin’s hand was carding through Dan’s hair softly, lulling them both into a sleepy state. 

“I missed you,” Dan said sleepily, voice slightly slurred. 

“I missed you too,” Arin said, leaning down to press a kiss to the top of Dan’s head, making Dan smile happily.

The two of them fell asleep quickly, cuddled up against each other, warm and happy. 

For Arin and Dan, the next couple of weeks passed in a blur of helping out during the day and collapsing into bed together at the end. The air was slightly cooler and they spent lots of time pressed together in front of the giant bonfire, sipping on tea, talking in hushed voices. They constantly received amused looks and eye rolls whenever they displayed any affection in front of people, but took it in jest, taking the opportunity to cuddle closer, or press another kiss to the other’s lips.

Things seemed to be going great. Both Dan and Arin were extremely happy, the overall mood of the community seemed to be light and airy despite the cold chill of winter, and everything just seemed to be falling into place. 

That is, until they woke up one day and the mood of the community had drastically changed. Everyone seemed to be on edge, and as Arin and Dan walked through the rows of houses, they grew more and more confused as to why. They walked up to Brian’s home and Arin pushed the door open, Dan coming in after him.

“What’s going on?” Dan asked, and Brian and Suzy turned to look at him, both with deep-set frowns on their faces. 

Brian sighed and leaned back against the table. “Some of the livestock was eaten in the night. It’s no one’s fault, and it’s not that much of an issue, but it will put a bit more stress on us. Specifically myself and Holly. We’ll be fine, things just might get a bit more hectic around here. And meals will have to be reorganized.”

Arin and Dan both frowned as well, stunned into silence for the moment.

“I, uh, I’m really sorry, Brian,” Dan said, not quite knowing how to help or make things better. “Is there anything I can do?”

“Not really. There’s not much anyone can do at this point. Holly and I just need to go over some things, and that might take up some time. Suzy will most likely have to step in for my other duties while I work this out,” Brian rambled on. He seemed distracted, like too many things were going on in his head at once, but Dan couldn’t really blame him.

Suzy watched Brian carefully, then looked back to Dan and Arin. “We’ll all be fine. The next few weeks will just be stressful.”

Arin looked to Brian for a moment as well, watching the way he tapped his foot against the floor rapidly, eyes dull but flickering back and forth across the ground. Arin then looked back to Suzy.

“If there’s anything we can do, just let us know, okay?” he asked, and Suzy nodded.

“Thanks, guys,” she said, giving them a small smile.

Arin and Dan then left, leaving Brian and Suzy to deal with everything, the somber feeling they had felt earlier now seeping into their bones as well.

Over the next couple of the days, Arin ended up being dragged to help Suzy out while Brian was busy with other things, leaving Dan slightly lonely. Most of the time Dan was left to find something to do while Arin worked, and it felt almost like they were back to square one with their relationship.

That night when Arin returned home after dinner, Dan decided to speak up.

“Hey, Arin?” 

Dan was sitting on top of the table shoved into the corner, messing with the leaves of a plant that was hanging from the ceiling, watching Arin as he unpacked and changed into his pajamas. Once Dan had spoken up, Arin had paused getting dressed, standing there shirtless in only his pajama shorts. Dan paused for a second but shook himself out of his thoughts.

“Yeah?”

Dan nervously ran a hand through his hair and sighed lightly, and Arin looked and him, slightly concerned.

“I know you’ve been busy and I don’t blame you, but could we maybe do something together soon? Just the two of us?” Dan asked, eyes soft but with a tinge of sadness fraying at the edges. 

Arin frowned and crossed the room, taking Dan’s hands in his. Dan looked down to their joined hands then back up to Arin.

“I’m sorry I haven’t been around to do much these past few days,” Arin said softly, rubbing his thumb over the back of one of Dan’s hands. A faint blush covered Dan’s cheeks at the action and Arin smiled softly. “Would you like to do something tomorrow? We can sneak away for a bit. I know a good place.”

“I’d love that, actually,” Dan said, leaning up to press a small kiss to Arin’s lips. “And, well, I don’t know any places to go so you’d kind of have to have something in mind.”

That got a laugh out of Arin and he pressed a kiss to Dan’s forehead, making Dan grin up at him.

Later the next day, the two of them are stretched out on a tarp under the shade of a tree near the cliff they had been at just a week or so ago, relaxed and happy. Arin was leaning back against the tree with Dan’s head in his lap, absently messing with Dan’s hair with one hand and feeding him berries with another. The forest is quiet except for the occasional rustling of leaves in the distance.

“This is nice,” Arin said softly, looking down at Dan affectionately. 

Dan swallowed the berry that was in his mouth and hummed in agreement. “I don’t know if I’ve been this relaxed in a long time.”

“Me too,” Arin replied, looking out onto the plains in front of them, taking in the view.

They fell into a moment of silence, just admiring the nature around them and relishing in the calm feeling surrounding them.

Another moment passed before Dan spoke up again, “Do you ever think about whether or not you’re where you truly belong?”

Arin let the question float around in his head for a moment before frowning and looking back down at Dan. Dan had turned his head so he was looking out to the plains as well, not meeting Arin’s eyes.

“What do you mean?”

Dan shrugged a bit. “I don’t know. I guess I don’t know what I’m supposed to be doing with my life, or if this is where I’m supposed to be, or… what. I don’t know where I belong,” he said, voice soft but backed with a tinge of sadness, and it made Arin’s heart hurt. 

Arin looked down at Dan sadly, suddenly very concerned for him and the mindset he seemed to be in.

“Are you… not happy here?” Arin asked. 

Dan turned his head to look back up at Arin, frowning a bit now as well.

“I am happy,” he said, staring up at Arin. He then brought one of his hands up to rub at his face. “I just don’t know what I’m destined to be.”

Arin’s hand that had stopped messing with Dan’s hair started again, curling strands of hair around each finger. “Yeah, I… I get it.”

Dan then sat up from his position and moved so he was sitting in front of Arin, Arin watching him intently. He gently took one of Arin’s hand in his, intertwining their fingers together. They both looked at their joined hands for a moment, Dan rubbing his thumb over Arin’s. 

“I’m not going anywhere for the time being, alright?” Dan said softly, looking back up at Arin.

Arin sighed lightly and nodded. The tension surrounding them was light, but it was still there, and it set Arin on edge. They sat in silence for a moment before Arin turned to pick up a small flower that was growing near them, holding it gently. Dan watched as Arin held the flower and as it started to grow, sprouting new flowers and stems and winding around itself into a circle. It was now a circle of leaves and stems, littered with tiny, white flowers, and Dan grinned at it.

Arin then looked at it proudly and lifted it up to place it on top of Dan’s head, laughing as it was nearly enveloped by Dan’s puffy hair, but he looked cute regardless. Dan blushed lightly and laughed as well, bowing jokingly.

“Thank you.”

A grin spread across Arin’s face as he looked at Dan, and he leaned forward to press a small kiss to Dan’s lips.

“I love you,” he said, their lips still brushing each other’s.

Dan grinned, and and leaned in to give Arin a kiss on the cheek.

“I love you too.”

-

The rest of the season went by quickly as the days got shorter and the nights got longer, and Dan began helping out again. These people felt like family to him now, and he felt more welcomed than ever. But there was still a deep rooted yearning inside his chest, clawing at the back of his mind telling him that he had to return to Jack and Vernon at some point, wanting to check up on how they were doing. He missed them.

This time during their seasonal trek, Dan and Arin were allowed a horse to help on their journey. And Dan was grateful he wouldn't have to exhaust himself on the long journey ahead of them. Although, he didn't say that out loud. The evening was quiet as they rode, hushed voices coming from behind them as people followed, the crackling of leaves echoing through the woods. Dan was sat behind Arin on the horse, his arms wrapped around Arin’s waist. His head was resting on Arin’s shoulder, face tucked into Arin's neck.

Dan took the moment of silence to reflect a bit on his thoughts, and he sighed heavily before squeezing Arin’s waist lightly, repositioning himself.

“You alright?” Arin said softly, looking back to Dan best he could, but just got a face full of hair.

“I just..,” he started, then cleared his throat. “I’m just missing my friends at home. I haven’t seen them in nearly a year. It’s weird being without them for so long when we’ve basically grown up together, y’know? I don’t quite know who I am without them, we were all basically extensions of one another, and leaving them for this long has been really weird for me.” He paused and furrowed his eyebrows in thought. “Does that make any sense?”

Arin’s heart sunk in his chest but he nodded. “Yeah… I guess I would get the same way if I ever left this group. This is everything I know, I wouldn’t know what to do.”

Dan nodded and shuffled again. “I love it here, and I love being with you. I’ve made so many good friends here, and this experience has been wonderful and I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I just have this… urge to check up on them. Make sure they’re alright.”

“I understand,” Arin said quietly, to not attract the attention of the people behind them, frowning slightly. “You know that you don’t have to stay here, right? You’re not obligated to stay with us at all. Though we’d miss you greatly.”

“I know..,” Dan said and sighed, playing with the hem of Arin’s shirt in front of him. “As much as I would love to stay and hate to leave you all, I think this is something I have to do. I think it’s time.”

“We can talk to Brian tomorrow, if this is genuinely what you want,” Arin said. His voice was slightly strained and Dan frowned, tugging one of Arin’s hands from where it was holding the reins and slipped his hand into Arin’s. Arin relaxed slightly as Dan pressed a kiss to the side of Arin’s neck, but his eyes were still filled with a faint sadness. 

“I’d like that very much. Thank you, Arin.”

After the last few grueling hours of their expedition and unpacking to the best of everyone’s abilities for the night, the night was winding down and everyone was planning to head to bed. Once they had quickly unpacked, Arin and Dan silently made their way to where Brian was staying. Arin held his fist up to the door but paused hesitantly, glancing back to Dan who gave him a small nod. Arin took a breath and knocked on the door, and not a minute later Brian answered.

“It’s late, what do the two of you want?” Brian asked, but smiled at them.

Arin tried to smile back but it fell short and he glanced back towards Dan. 

Brian noticed the sad look on Arin’s face and his smile dropped as well, following Arin’s gaze to look at Dan. The joking tone that had filled the air moments ago was gone and now the air was thick with an unspoken tension. Dan’s face was blank but he tried to give Brian a half smile. It didn’t carry.

“Is… something wrong?” Brian asked tentatively.

Dan cleared his throat. “Can we come in?”

Brian nodded and backed up, holding the door open for the two of them, watching them carefully as they walked inside. He shut the door quietly behind them and walked over to where they were standing in the middle of the room, shifting from foot to foot impatiently. He raised an eyebrow at them curiously. 

“I… um..,” Dan started, then paused and took a deep breath. “I’m going to be leaving soon. I don’t know for how long. But I need to go back home for a bit. Check up on everything, y’know?” he said, then rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. He stared at the ground so he didn’t have to look Brian in the eye.

Brian’s face morphed from being emotionless, to a brief moment of shock, then finally to a quiet, sad acceptance. A deep frown was etched on his face and his eyes were dull.

“How soon are you leaving?”

Dan shrugged. “Couple days, maybe? I don’t want to leave without notice or anything, but pretty soon.”

Brian hummed quietly then walked forward to drag Dan into a hug, wrapping his arms around Dan tightly. Dan jumped a bit at the sudden contact but gratefully accepted the embrace. He looked over Brian’s shoulder to Arin, who gave him a small smile.

“We’ll miss you a lot, you know that, right?” Brian asked softly, and Dan nodded.

“I’ll miss you all as well. More than you’d ever know,” Dan responded just as quietly.

Brian then pulled away and placed his hands on Dan’s shoulders, making their eyes meet.

“You know where to find us if you want to come back. You’ll always be welcome here, even if it’s just for a visit.”

Dan nodded again and smiled. “Thank you, Brian.”

“No, thank you, Dan. You’ve been a wonderful little addition to our weird family here, and I’m so glad we all got to know you. I love you,” Brian said, grinning at Dan.

Tears started to pool in the corners of Dan’s eyes, and he laughed lightly.

“I love you too, Brian. Thank you for allowing me to have this opportunity,” Dan said, then pulled Brian in for another hug.

The next couple of days passed faster than anyone would have wanted. Dan spent his last couple days surrounded by the friends he had made and helping out as much as he could, spending as much time with everyone as he could, crashing late each night, exhausted, but happy. He spent as much time as he could with Arin as well, going out for little walks around the woods or sneaking extra sweet cakes during lunch, eating them pressed up against a wall away from everyone, stealing sweet kisses.

Despite having grown incredibly fond of everyone he had met, Dan’s heart ached the most at the thought of leaving Arin. These last few nights together were filled with hushed conversations about anything and everything, pressed close together in the dark, sharing small kisses. Dan knew that Arin’s heart ached too, even if he tried his best to hide it. Throughout the day Dan would catch Arin staring at him sadly, and once Arin noticed Dan looking back, he would put on a mask and his smile would turn more convincing.

Brian had secretly thrown a little get together for Dan the night before he was set to leave, complete with some of Dan’s favorite food as well as some of the younger children giving him gifts to take with him back home. One of them had given him a flower crown like the one Arin had made him a while ago, and he wore it proudly the whole night. The night was filled with singing and dancing and the sharing of stories, and by the end Dan was absolutely exhausted, but grinning happily.

Dan and Arin made their way back to Arin’s place and collapsed onto Arin’s bed, still giggling about something one of them had said. Once the giggling had died out, they fell into silence as Dan stared up at the ceiling, Arin on his back next to Dan, staring at him intently.

“I’m going to miss you a lot,” Arin said quietly, eyes tracing over Dan’s features, slightly lit up by the moonlight filtering in through the window.

Dan then turned his head to meet Arin’s eyes, bringing a hand up to tuck a strand of hair behind Arin’s ear, making him blush lightly.

“I’m going to miss you a lot as well. You are absolutely amazing and I’m so glad I’ve gotten to know you over this past year or so,” Dan said quietly. “I hope you understand why I need to do this and that this hurts as much for me as it does for you.”

Arin nodded and leaned into the touch of Dan’s hand. “I do. I totally understand and I respect your decision. I’d never make you stay if you wanted to leave. Just… you’ll come back, right?”

Dan then rolled over so he was lying on top of Arin, holding himself up by his forearms. Arin stared up at him, eyes wide. 

“Of course I’ll come back. You all mean too much to me to just walk away and never return. Especially you,” Dan said, giving Arin a small smile then just as Arin was going to respond, Dan leaned down to blow a raspberry against Arin’s neck, making him break out into hysterics. 

Arin attempted to roll Dan off him but Dan had him pinned down, the two of them collapsing into a fit of giggles and happiness. Once the laughing died down a bit, Dan cupped Arin’s cheek with his hand and dragged him in for a kiss. They lingered together for a couple of moments before Dan pulled away, peppering Arin’s whole face with small kisses, making Arin laugh and drag Dan back in for another proper kiss. They both pulled away after a moment and Dan got off his elbows to collapse onto Arin’s chest, face pressed into the crook of Arin’s neck.

“I love you, Arin,” Dan said, snuggling closer to Arin.

Arin reached down to link his hand with Dan’s resting them on his own stomach. He squeezed Dan’s hand and bent his head to press a kiss to Dan’s forehead.

“I love you too, Dan.”

The next morning a somber feeling hung in the air, and the whole group felt it. Breakfast was lack-luster, no one spoke much besides the occasional “good morning,” and Dan had given the most hugs than he had in his entire life. Time flew by faster than Dan wanted it to, and before he knew it, it was time to head out. 

He was standing at the edge of the community, looking into the forest sadly.

“You know, you don’t have to go,” Ross said, coming up behind him and putting a hand on Dan’s shoulder.

Dan sighed. “I know, but this is something I think I need to do.” He turned around and looked at the others, all who were looking at him with sad smiles on their faces.

“We’ll miss you, buddy,” Barry said, dragging Dan in for a hug. 

Dan returned the hug appreciatively, then moved to Suzy, who was standing next to Barry. She tugged him in for a hug as well, pressing her face against his chest.

“Have a safe trip, okay?” she said, and Dan nodded in response, rubbing her back.

Ross and Holly then hugged him from both sides tightly, and Dan returned the hug just as tight.

Brian came next, hugging him just as hard as when Dan had told him he was leaving. 

“We’ll be here when you decide to come back, okay?” he said, and Dan nodded appreciatively. He pulled back and looked at them all, smiling sadly, eyes filling with tears. 

“I’ll miss you all so much,” he said, voice cracking slightly. They returned his smile, not saying anything. They didn’t need to.

Dan then turned his gaze to Arin, who was standing at the edge of the group, tears streaking down his face. He rushed forward and pulled Arin into a bone-crushing hug, pressing his face into Arin’s neck. At the contact, whatever wall Arin had built up broke and he collapsed against Dan’s shoulder.

“I’ll miss you most of all. I’ll be back soon, alright? You’ll be okay,” Dan said, crying as well.

Arin took a shaky breath and nodded. “O-okay. I love you, Dan.”

Dan leaned back and pressed a small kiss to Arin’s lips. “I love you too, Arin.”

Dan reluctantly pulled away, taking one last look at all of his friends. “I’ll see you all soon, I promise.”

He gave them one last smile before turning around and taking off into the woods, leaves crunching beneath his feet, the sound of birds chirping surrounding him.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!


End file.
